Exploring the Possible Contributions of the African Palaver towards a Participatory Synodal Church

This essay argues for a participatory synodal Church and the possible contributions of the African palaver as a model for participatory dialogue in the Roman Catholic Church. The African palaver is the art of conversation, dialogue, and consensus-building in traditional society that can be appropriated in the current search for a more inclusive and expansive participatory dialogue at all levels of the life of the Church. I will develop this essay first by briefly exploring some theological developments on synodality between the Second Vatican Council and Pope Francis and some of the contributions of the reforms of Pope Francis to synodality in the Church. Secondly, I will identify how the African palaver functions through examples taken from two African ethnic groups. I will proceed to show how the African palaver could enter into dialogue with other new approaches to participatory dialogue for a synodal Church.

Modern African Missionaries. A Reassessment of Their Impact in Uganda 1890s–1920s

Using examples from Anglican missions in the Great Lakes region of Africa this article explores the roles of African Protestant missionaries in the modern era. It argues that many committed African Christians understood themselves to be missionaries and examines the nature of their missionary activity. Those who called themselves missionaries evangelised outside their own ethnic group. They were engaged in regional and transnational developments. The article attends to local and regional historical processes to show how African missionary activities were infused with transnational notions of belonging to a world religion.

The Crisis of Indian Secularism

In this paper I suggest that Roman Catholic theologians in India take a second look at the distinction between western and Indian secularisms. Blurring the lines between western and Indian secularisms may help the theological reflection on the so-called crisis of Indian secularism. The key point is the non-ontological, historical character of secularism. A look at the growing literature on western post-secularization, in fact, may offer some suggestions about how to deal with the nationalist mooring of Hindutva philosophy. A possibility exists that both the West and India are eventually entering simultaneously, but not necessarily on the same terms, a post-secular phase.